i. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an easily and quickly deployable covering, or dropcloth, for use by painters to protect non-workpiece items against paint splatter while painting a workpiece.
ii. Background
Most aspects of paint technology have received considerable attention in the past, such that improved paint rollers, brushes, spray guns and other painting accessories are commercially available. However, in terms of protecting non-workpiece items against paint splatter, the state of technology has remained largely unchanged, with the standard solution being to drape a cloth, plastic, canvas or other type of sheet, such as the tarpaulin of U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,447, over non-workpiece items, particularly the floor. Unfortunately, this solution is not ideal as it is time consuming to spread these types of protective sheets, and frequently soiling of the floor occurs anyway as the soiled protective sheet folds over, or otherwise comes in contact with the floor. Items such as the portable drip collector of U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,589, and the drop cloth holder of U.S. Pat. No. 3,872,549, do not fully address the problems of paint splatter and only underscore the need for a more perfect solution.
What is needed, therefore, is an easily and quickly deployable and easily moved covering which overcomes these problems. This invention provides such a solution.